Invisible women

(This post first appeared on my blog ReelGirl which rates kids’ media and products on girl empowerment)

Women’s Media Center just posted a great, short video on YouTube called “WMC at Sundance Film festival 2011″ that gets across how invisible women and women’s stories are in the media. See the video here.

As a potential mirror of our dreams and our realities, the media is seriously warped. Women are 53% of our population. How different would the world be if the media reflected women’s imaginations and points of view with the same attention it does men’s? Can you even picture it? Sometimes I think men have no idea what its like to exist in a world created by male fantasy. The problem isn’t that men are bad or that men are sexist; it’s that women need to be able to be the ones to tell their own stories.

Stats from the video:

72% of G-rated film characters are male. I just blogged about this yesterday.

4 women have received best director nods, 1 woman has won

77% of film critics are male

86% of films had no female writers

5x more skin shown by women than men from G to R rated films

7% of top films in 2009 were directed by women (same stat as back in 1987)